B.C. man indicted in U.S. fought off deportation in 2008, despite drug conviction

A photo from a U.S. indictment that was released on July 7, 2026, depicts an alleged drug shipment that was intercepted in an investigation into a group of B.C. men, Gurtej Singh Smagh, Ravinder Singh Dhanda, and Jaskarn Baghri. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - U.S. Department of Justice (Mandatory Credit)

VANCOUVER — Court and immigration board records show that a British Columbia suspect indicted by U.S. authorities over alleged international organized crime was previously convicted of cross-border drug smuggling in the United States, but was allowed to stay in Canada after his release.

An attempt to deport Gurtej Singh Smagh, who goes by Raj Smagh, from Canada in 2008 because of his crimes was overturned by the Immigration and Refugee Board.

The board’s adjudicator found Smagh had “community support” to stay in Canada because it was in the best interest of his family members and child.

“I note that the appellant does not appear to have family left in India. He testified that his only paternal aunt will be immigrating to Canada shortly. I am satisfied that he would suffer some hardship by reason of his dislocation, given his family ties to Canada,” adjudicator Erwin Nest found.

Smagh, a cherry farmer from Creston, B.C., had been sentenced to nine months in jail in Washington state in 2007 for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

The U.S. Justice Department announced on Tuesday the arrests of 24 suspects around the world, including Smagh and two others in Canada, in connection with offences by India-based criminal groups that include the high-profile assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C., in June 2023.

That killing was attributed to a crime group headed by Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, while Smagh, Ravinder Singh Dhanda of Vancouver and Jaskarn Baghri of Surrey were charged under a separate indictment, accused of smuggling and distributing hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine each week from the United States into Canada.

Smagh, Dhanda and Baghri faced a B.C. Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday in Vancouver, with a publication ban imposed on the proceeding under the Extradition Act.

The 2008 immigration board decision shows Smagh successfully appealed a deportation order spurred by his U.S. conviction the previous year.

The decision says the case involved between 42 and 45 kilograms of marijuana, and that Smagh “was candid about the reasons and the motivation for his criminal behaviour, brought upon by financial pressures.”

Smagh was granted a stay of his removal order “to show that he can be fully rehabilitated.”

“There is likelihood that the appellant will be a productive and law-abiding member of Canadian society. After a careful review of all the circumstances of this case, I am satisfied that the appellant has shown, on the balance of probability, why he should not be removed from Canada,” Nest wrote.

Court records show Smagh was charged with assault with a weapon and uttering threats for alleged offences that occurred in November 2016, but one of the charges was withdrawn and he was given a peace bond and $500 fine.

Smagh is now accused by authorities in California of smuggling drugs across the border by “hiding cocaine and methamphetamine aboard farm trucks used on working farms at the U.S.-Canada border.”

The indictment also says he would gather information about Canadian border inspections from someone who worked for the Canada Border Services Agency to assist with the drug smuggling.

He is also said to have taken part in a Surrey meeting on Jan. 20 last year with Dhanda and Baghri to co-ordinate smuggling logistics, where Dhanda allegedly said he intended to start a new “cartel.”

Court records show that the Bank of Montreal initiated foreclosure proceedings against Smagh, his aunt Gurpreet Kaur Smagh and their Creston-based company Smagh and Sons Ltd. in 2024.

The bank took Smagh and others to court after defaulting on a mortgage and general security agreement over a debt of more than $4 million.

Smagh’s lawyers in the immigration case, the U.S. criminal case, the assault case in B.C. and the foreclosure petition did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A 2014 ruling from the B.C. Court of Appeal, meanwhile, says Dhanda had also previously been linked to suspicions of cross-border marijuana smuggling.

Dhanda was not an accused in that case, but B.C. law enforcement intercepted communications that led investigators to believe Dhanda had commercial trucking contacts utilized by cross-border marijuana smugglers.

Corporate and court records show a man named Ravinder Dhanda is a director of a Surrey-based trucking firm called JJ Smith Transportation Ltd.

The same Surrey law firm that represented Smagh in the foreclosure proceedings represented Dhanda and JJ Smith in a 2024 truck lease default case. A person who answered the phone at the Herr Law Group said the lawyers for both men declined to comment.

Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, a spokesman for the Surrey Police Service, said news of the charges and arrests related to the U.S. indictments was “very welcome.”

He said it would hopefully bring some peace of mind to residents and business owners in the community racked by extortion threats and violence, showing there is co-ordinated effort by police to crack down on those responsible.

Houghton said Nijjar’s assassination had been “unsettling” for many in Surrey, and while the Surrey Police Service wasn’t the police force of jurisdiction in the city at the time, “it still has a lingering impact on us to this day.”

B.C. RCMP declined a request for an interview with Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald in his role with the province’s Extortion Task Force, saying all inquiries related to the operation should be directed to the RCMP at the national level.

The RCMP national headquarters released a statement from Commissioner Mike Duheme on Tuesday calling the operation “a big moment” for the Mounties and public safety in Canada and beyond.

In addition to the arrests, the statement notes three search warrants were executed in West Vancouver, White Rock and Surrey, B.C.

The indictment against Bishnoi alleges he took responsibility for a November 2023 shooting at the B.C. home of an Indian actor and singer identified as “R.G.,” in an incident that matches a shooting at the West Vancouver, B.C., home of Rupinder Grewal, better known as Gippy Grewal.

White Rock RCMP did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. The West Vancouver Police Department said questions should be directed to RCMP federal policing in B.C.

Requests for comment sent to the Facebook and Instagram accounts for Grewal went unanswered on Tuesday.

This report by Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press, was first published July 9, 2026.

-- With files by Brenna Owen

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press